"...Oh, my apologies, my little pony. I did not see you there!"

The voice of the regal Princess of Equestria was enough to send stars dancing across the young filly's eyes as she stared up at her idol. Her newly appointed teacher - she still couldn't believe it! Of all the ponies in the world, Celestia had chosen her as her prodigy! What incredible luck.

She knew that maybe she wasn't supposed to be all the way up here, but it was easy enough to trail after the Princess tucked so close to her hooves. She was convinced she had looked important enough to evade the guard's suspicion, she had absolutely no clue that they actually just let her through out of sheer charmed amusement.

"What's it like, you said? Well that is a very good question, isn't it?" Celestia echoed, gazing across the balcony overseeing her beautiful kingdom. She glanced back at the small purple unicorn with a glint of pride in her eye, and gestured with her head for her to come and sit beside her. Twilight did just that, the sound of her hooves scrambling in her excitement threatening to send Celestia into a giggling fit.

"I suppose that depends on the context. Do you mean to ask me how I do it, magically?" She inquired. Twilight tilted her head, before shaking it.

"No, I mean..." She struggled to grasp the exact phrasing she meant. "How does it FEEL?" Twilight hoped the exaggerated emphasis would translate well enough. Celestia chuckled.

"Ah. You mean emotionally speaking, then." She confirmed. Twilight nodded enthusiastically. Celestia sat down, and used her magic to lift a cup of tea from the nearby table up to her lips. There was something almost fallible in seeing such a powerful swath of magic do something as dainty and inconsequential as lifting a fragile teacup. Celestia took a sip. "Well, I have been doing this for a very long time. At this point, it is as natural to me as eating or breathing. I suppose if I really take the time to think about it, however..."

"Do you know the feeling you get when you finish a long, difficult book? Or finish a stack of particularly difficult homework?" Twilight gave her an affirmative hum. These topics were very extremely familiar to her, because she was a wonderful student and a smart filly, like her parents told her. "There's something that glows right in the middle of your chest. It is warm, and it sweeps over your entire body in waves. When you bask in it, you feel like the whole world is giving you a hug. Do you know what that feeling is, Twilight?"

Twilight's little eyes grew wide.

"This is not a test." Celestia soothed, smiling. "Just answer to the best of your ability. What do you think we call that feeling?" The smaller pony became lost in thought.

It was harder to come up with an answer for something like this. It wasn't simple, like an equation. An identifier of feeling wasn't as cut and dry as something you could read in a novel. After what was surely too long of a pause, Twilight finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, Princess. I don't know." She sounded sheepish, almost ashamed of herself. Twilight looked so tiny whenever she spoke like this. So unassuming and fragile. Sort of like...

Celestia shook the thought from her head.

"That's quite alright, Twilight. I can tell you." She replied. Her horn lit up again, and this time she was softly enveloping the filly within its warmth to pull her closer to her side. Affectionately, she used the magic to ruffle her well-kept mane. Twilight giggled, shaking her head to try and get it back in place. "It's pride."

"Ohhh... yes, I know that one." Twilight insisted, not wanting Celestia to think she'd been lacking in her vocabulary! "Pride... so you're proud of raising the sun?"

"Not exactly." Celestia corrected. When the little filly looked puzzled, she continued. "I am not precisely proud of raising the sun as an action, no. In fact, doing so is quite difficult for me some days. But I always do it. Each and every morning, no matter how difficult it is, or how downtrodden I may be. I still raise to my hooves," Celestia stood up, for emphasis. "And slowly lift the sunshine over Equestria, so that it may bring its glorious light to my citizens. That is what I am proud of, little filly. Never giving up."

"It's difficult for you to raise the sun?" She sounded as if she couldn't believe anything could ever be difficult on the Princess.

"On many days, yes. I carry an immense burden. I am grateful for my position, of course, but it is not an easy one." Celestia watched as the remaining distance her sun had to close between its morning height was gracefully closed. Twilight witnessed it with wonder, as if she'd never seen it before. "Now, come with me. You're not supposed to be up here, now are you?" Celestia scolded, though her tone remained light and playful. Twilight shrunk a bit, not saying anything to that as she obediently trailed after her.

Twilight cast her gaze around the castle as she followed. She took in the sight of the passing guards, adorned with Equestria's crest. Many of them gave her warm smiles, and she wondered if working closely with the Princess made you warmer by default. Because of the sun! It was logically sound, at least. Her eyes then met the gentle gleam of the stained glass windows.

This was one of Twilight's favorite attractions of the castle.

Sprawling colors and patterns locked almost as if in dance, reflecting Celestia's light in brilliant impressions on the tile... Twilight imagined there must be no greater glory in all the world. She took in the messages they told, the stories they conveyed. Ancient heroes, sometimes ancient villains, too.

Her eyes rested on the window that portrayed the mysterious mare in the moon, and her little cogs in her head started churning again. Twilight took pause, and Celestia noted the lack of tiny hoofsteps in their wake. She glanced over her shoulder.

"Twilight?" She prompted. Twilight lifted her head.

"Sorry, Princess." She apologized, running ahead to keep up once more. After another moment's silence, Twilight spoke. Her tiny voice was prominent in the delicate morning bustle. "What about the moon?"

"I'm sorry?"

"How does it feel to raise the moon?"

This time it was Celestia's regal hoofsteps that suddenly silenced. Twilight almost ran into the back of her hind legs if she didn't stop herself. Celestia didn't look at her, or say anything. She didn't even make a noise. If it weren't for her ever-flowing mane and tail, Twilight might have assumed she suddenly turned to a statue. Twilight cautiously took place beside her mentor, casting a nervous glance up in her direction.

"...Princess...?" She squeaked, trying to gather in her head what Celestia's expression was conveying. It was twisted up in something so complicated and deep that Twilight couldn't wrap her brain around it. Something about that expression was so... adult. Something similar to when her parents would speak of troubled finances but... worse. Even with Twilight's nervous prodding, Celestia didn't reply. She opened her mouth again, even more hesitant. "Princess!"

"Oh- uh. I- excuse me, Twilight." Celestia replied all-too-quickly. She was moving again before Twilight could process it, and soon she was scampering to keep up again. "I just remembered something I have to attend to, is all. Hurry along now."

For the rest of the walk back to Twilight's study room, they were quiet together. Every once and a while, Twilight would try to race further ahead to catch glimpses of the Princess' expression, but Celestia always strode ahead further, keeping her face out of the filly's vision.

Twilight looked around at all of the sunny decorations laid out all around the castle. She wondered what it was about the moon that made Celestia so strange.

Oh well. Twilight always preferred the daylight, anyway.

Author's Note

whoof this is my first time writing a horsefic in a REALLY long time so!! grant me your kindness, i beg of you.